


Courtship

by lunardistance



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Musicals)
Genre: F/M, Silver Millennium Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-19
Updated: 2014-02-19
Packaged: 2018-01-13 01:37:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1208017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunardistance/pseuds/lunardistance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Back when the Silver Millennium reigned in all its splendor and hearts were still pure, four kings engaged four princesses in little games of romance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. juno

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dawntheduck](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=dawntheduck).



> Based off the most recent Seramyu, "La Reconquista". These short pieces will still make sense even if you haven't watched the musical, but I highly recommend it, anyway!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nephrite and Juno face off in a duel, and Nephrite wonders if he's gotten in over his head. And that maybe he doesn't mind so much.

The clanging of swords seemed entirely unsuited for the manicured gardens of the Moon Kingdom, but then again, she had been the one to decide where their match would take place; a fair exchange for his say regarding the weapons. Nephrite had purposefully forgone his usual weapon of choice, his favored battleaxe, and instead opted to go with the swords. He refused to say it out loud, fearing yet another misstep with his choice of words (contrary to how the others liked to tease him about it, he _was_ trying to watch his words more carefully), but going at a woman with a battleaxe, regardless of her status as a protector of the Moon Princess and a powerful warrior in her own right, was far too unsettling.

There had been a suspicious look in her eyes when he announced that they would be fighting with swords, and for a moment he thought she would become furious at him once more, but she had merely smiled and graciously accepted the duel.

In hindsight, Nephrite needn’t have worried – her expertise with the sword was clear, and judging by the delighted gasps and approving murmurs he could hear from their audience, everyone knew it, too. Slowly, he was pushed to his own limits, sparring with her as he would with his own brothers. The world condensed to the two of them and the sharp bites of their swords against each other.

Thrust, parry, strike, evade. The rhythm was intoxicating, and he felt sweat beading along his forehead, saw the way she showed her own signs of exertion. If anything, the glow of battle only made her more magnificent, and he found himself focusing on how one of her curls had slipped from the bun she had put them up in, a glossy contrast against her pale neck.

That single moment of distraction proved to be his undoing; with a quick, powerful jab, she knocked his sword aside and thrust her blade at him, stopping just a breath from his neck.

The crowd burst into applause, some perhaps in a slightly less polite manner than decorum called for (he shot Jadeite a halfhearted glare). Nephrite accepted his defeat graciously, sheathing his sword before sweeping into a bow before his triumphant opponent.

“My commendations to you, Princess. You truly are a worthy opponent,” he enunciated carefully, praying he would not slip up again. Not now, when he had done his best to prove to her that he considered her an equal. (His equal.)

“Please, Nephrite, it’s just Juno,” she replied, and he lifted his head just enough to see the warmth in her bright green eyes, verdant as the foliage that surrounded them. Her lips lifted into a smile, and for a moment, he wondered if he had been shattered apart by one of her famed thunderbolts.

“And someday, I would love to share the same battlefield with you.”


	2. athena

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zoisite and Athena touch on the differences between their respective planets, and the humor that goes along with it.

“Athena!”

Her back shot up ramrod straight at the address, and her face was pink when she whirled around to see who had called. “Oh, goodness, it was just you, Zoisite.”

His steps slowed as he reached her side, face pulling into a slight frown. “Forgive me for surprising you.”

She shook her head rapidly, the bright flush receding from her cheeks to their usual pale color, and privately, Zoisite thought it was a shame. The Princess of Mercury was undeniably a beautiful woman, but he believed she was even more so when she was flustered. Her cheeks would fill with that lovely pink color, sometimes rising to even the tips of her ears, and if he were any less of a gentleman, he would probably do more to coax that reaction out of her.

“—absolutely fascinating, I can’t imagine how you live with it!”

Zoisite blinked, realizing that in his rapture, he had missed the start of her response. “I’m ashamed to ask your forgiveness so soon after my last blunder, but could you please repeat that?”

“Your planet’s gravity!” Athena exclaimed, clearly excited enough to overlook his lack of attention. “I was reading the book on Earth’s atmosphere, you see, and apparently your planet’s gravity pull is naturally enough to keep you on the ground? Back home, we’ve had to stabilize ours synthetically, and here on the Moon Kingdom, it is done with Queen Serenity’s regulation. But to have the conditions for it occur naturally—!”

Zoisite’s grin mirrored hers. “Well, I suppose that explains why Kunzite attracts so many women. I can’t imagine it being due to his charming personality.”

Athena’s laughter rung out like tiny bells, like crystals falling on sheets of ice. Her face was pink once more, but this time due to sheer amusement, and he can’t help but think he would make a million jokes just to see her like this over and over again.

“Then I suppose we’d best be careful when Serenity is down there,” she murmured, a mischievous gleam in frost blue eyes. “Earth’s gravitational pull will not be as forgiving as the Moon’s.”

This time, it was his barking laughter that resounded through the halls.


	3. hestia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jadeite attempts to impress Hestia with his own brand of fortune telling.

He still made an effort to hide, although they both knew it was a token resistance by now. Still, if anyone was a stickler for that kind of thing, it was Hestia, and truthfully, he didn’t mind having to put on a show. After all, it was their little game, something just between the two of them, and Gaea smite him if that didn’t make him happy.

“Jadeite, I know you’re there.”

Her voice was exasperated, with just an edge of fondness. Excellent, he’d caught her in a good mood. The assurance was enough to push him to emerge from his spot behind a pillar. “Did the sacred fire tell you of my arrival?”

“No, there was a draft, and only you would be excited enough to forget shutting the doors behind you,” Hestia rolled her eyes as she turned from her hearth.

“Very sharp of you,” Jadeite nodded, quickly rectifying his error before approaching her. As custom, he took the spot directly across from her, although he pretended not to notice how he was seated a little closer than most would even dare. If anything, her lack of biting commentary (and boy, could she deal out a tongue lashing if she was ever so inclined) only spurred him on.

Hestia rearranged her skirts before looking at him through dark lashes. “So, what have you interrupted my mediation for today?”

“Milady, I wish to introduce you to one of Earth’s own forms of divination.” Jadeite made a show out of pulling the deck of cards out of the inner pocket of his jacket. “Tarot cards.”

“I’ve… heard of them, yes,” Hestia said slowly, but the gleam in her eyes told a different story.

“A demonstration, then, to prove their accuracy,” Jadeite announced as he held out the cards to her. “Hold your left hand over the cards and concentrate on something you wish to know. I will then cut the deck until you instruct me to stop, and from there a single card will reveal the answer to your query.”

A fine dark brow rose at the instructions, but when Jadeite shook the cards at her insistently, she obliged. The process went as he had dictated, until he finally drew the card and displayed it to her with a triumphant noise.

“Is it supposed to be upside down?” Hestia remarked, her voice deliberately controlled.

“Oh, sorry. There must have been a mistake with the shuffling.” Jadeite flipped the card around, and if Hestia weren’t so flushed herself, she might have laughed at the way his eyes widened to the size of Serenity’s hair buns.

“T-The—”

“Alright, that’s enough.”

“The _Lovers_!”

“Yes, I saw.”

“Haha! I knew you couldn’t keep your thoughts off me!”

“Alright, that’s enough. You are evicted from my hearth!”


	4. aphrodite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kunzite finds himself being disarmed all too easily by Aphrodite on their walk around the palace gardens.

“Lord Kunzite.”

A measured breath. A centering of the mind. An attempt at focus that was sabotaged at the sight of the golden nymph that emerged from the castle doors.

“Lady Aphrodite.”

For all of the endless regulations that the Council had imposed upon them with this treaty, there had to be at least one outlawing smiles that disarmed a man so easily.

“I was thinking of going on a walk around the gardens. Would you care to join me?”

As if anyone could deny such a request, turn down the delicate white arm stretched out so invitingly.

“Of course. It would be an honor.”

The way he offered his own arm out to her was purely within the lines of protocol. The way her arm threaded through his toed the boundaries, but he felt no urge to correct her.

“It is good that Prince Endymion and the Terran entourage were able to visit the Moon again. The last visit felt as though it had ended too… abruptly.”

Endymion had sulked for days. The others had sulked for roughly the same amount of time. He would never admit it, even under duress, but it had taken his iron-clad control to keep from doing the same.

“My Prince insisted upon it. Of course, Earth is quite eager to further establish its ties with the Moon, so his wishes were well in line with that of our people.”

And if they had to carry out a bit of their own strategic interventions to help the process along, well. No one could accuse them of being reluctant.

“My Princess is similarly eager to encourage those ties. Her diplomacy lessons were put into good practice while she was arguing on Earth’s behalf during the discussions of further visits.”

He would have to do something especially nice for the Moon Princess. Then again, Endymion was probably miles ahead of him on that one, and the sentiments were perhaps more treasured from him more than they would from Kunzite.

“And you, Lady Aphrodite?”

She stopped in front of an alcove, pink lips curving into the same smile as earlier.

“Oh? And here I was, thinking you’d forgotten about me.”

Steel gray eyes closed as he shook his head, and when he opened them again, she was closer to him than before.

“My lady, I can assure you, no man would ever forget about you.”

Sunspun lashes fluttered over eyes as blue as the sky, a dangerous combination.

“Not even you?”

Kunzite’s life was built on danger.

“Not even me.”


End file.
